Virtual Reality, with its uncanny, thrilling ability to completely immerse you in imaginative fantasy worlds (or take you to normally inaccessible parts of the real world) may seem like something from the future, but it’s here now. And without a shadow of doubt, the best way to introduce it to your family is by investing in an Oculus Quest all-in-one VR headset.
There are a number of VR headsets on sale, but we strongly believe that the Oculus Quest is the one to get if you’re looking to add Virtual Reality to your family environment. Here are five reasons why.
1. No expensive extra hardware required
When VR headsets first emerged, they required expensive gaming PCs – typically costing more than £1,000 – in order to run. But VR technology improved with startling rapidity and when the Oculus Quest launched in spring 2019, it was a game-changer.
Oculus Quest comes with two Oculus Touch controllers which sense your hand-movements – so once you’ve bought an Oculus Quest, the only other thing you have to pay for is the games you play on it. Plus, its innovative built-in speakers work so impressively that you don’t need to pair it with a set of headphones.
2. No quality compromises
There are other all-in-one VR headsets on sale. But the Oculus Quest is the only one that offers a VR experience almost indistinguishable in quality from headsets that must be run by expensive gaming PCs, yet also boasts a sub-£400 price-point.
In terms of the resolution of its visuals, its field of vision, its six degrees of freedom, the ambitiousness of the games and media it runs and the accuracy of its motion-sensing, the Oculus Quest is simply better than all other similarly priced all-in-one VR headsets.
3. Super-easy to set up and use
The Oculus Quest’s unique design means that you don’t need to be an IT-savvy geek in order to get it up and running – quite the opposite, in fact.
Unlike most VR headsets, it doesn’t even have a separate base-station – all its sensors are built into the headset. To set it up, you just need to download a free app to your mobile phone which gives you the ability to download games for it and control its firmware and settings.
Plus, the Quest has a Guardian System feature which maps out the space in which you’re playing, so is able to provide warnings when you come close to touching walls or anything else in your play-space.
4. An unparalleled portfolio of games for all
Despite being the most recently released VR headset on the market, the Oculus Quest’s software store already contains hundreds of titles, the vast majority of which are games.
A quick glance through the categories alone rams home the message that its games library caters for all tastes, including shoot-em-ups, rhythm games, boxing games, sports games, puzzle games and some VR experiences which would be properly dangerous if attempted in real life.
With an Oculus Quest, you can become a virtual graffiti artist or DJ, experience the rush of wingsuit-flying, participate in a drunken bar fight, cast competitive magic spells or see if you have the mettle to survive horror-film scenarios.
And there are countless new games in the works for the Oculus Quest, including Phantom: Covert Ops, Pistol Whip, and Path of the Warrior, offerings from renowned developers like Crytek and Insomniac.
5. It’s not just about the games
One of the joys of Virtual Reality is the dizzying amount of possibilities it offers: while it’s unquestionably a thrilling medium in which to experience video games, it also offers a strikingly diverse collection of non-gaming experiences.
For example, you can watch films and TV on an Oculus Quest, via apps for the likes of Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime, all of which make you feel like you’re in a cinema.
Or you can let your creative juices run wild, thanks to a number of innovative apps that let you sketch or model objects, like Gravity Sketch and Tilt Brush.
Or you can become a virtual tourist, experiencing the likes of the Apollo 11 space mission, exploring Antarctica with National Geographic Explore VR or visiting Anne Frank’s house. VR isn’t just about fun: it can be educational, too.